Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1245 Before the Autumn Harvest

On March 1660, 3, Dingjun Mountain.

Today is a fine day, with thousands of miles of Dingjun mountains and mountains, green trees and smoke villages, herds of cattle, sheep, mules and horses, and children chasing and playing.There was no hint of war here, just as calm as an autumn day in the Deep South countryside.However, if you turn your attention to some military restricted areas that have always been hung with the words "Let no one go near", and then take the time to chat with some old people in the village who saw the sight of troops stationed in the middle of the night because they couldn't sleep, you will no longer Come to this conclusion.

Hai Dafu came to Dingjun Fort at such a time, maybe he has devoted himself to documents and intrigue for a long time, but he is only in his fifties with a wrinkled face, simple clothes, and a slovenly appearance. People seem to think of some impoverished schoolteachers transferred from Ming Dynasty scholars in remote villages. They can be regarded as "talents" in the increasingly large bureaucratic team on the east coast.

He came here by train from Ping'an County. After the combined operation of the Ping'an-Dingjunbao line with a total of 122 kilometers of railways, the travel between the two places was much more convenient, and the whole journey took less than five hours. If it is a mule team or a convoy, it will be at least a few days away, and the difference is simply incalculable.

Hai Dafu observed that although the 65-kilometer railway on the Liuding Line opened to traffic two or three months earlier than the original plan, not all the projects have been completed. It will not seem to be over for a while, which shows the urgency of the Ministry of War when rushing to clear the railway.

Dingjunbao Railway Station is very busy today. A large number of rails have been transported here by railway, and they are ready to be laid on the 34-kilometer railway line from Dingjunbao to Shahubao. Behind them is the 58-kilometer section from Shahubao to Shengxing Township. The railway lines in Beijing are also crazily leveling the roadbed, even rushing to work day and night.

"The railway is being repaired in such a hurry." Hai Dafu stood on the platform, watching the teams of railway construction workers driving ahead, and said with a sigh.In his opinion, these poor railway construction workers can only be regarded as consumables. They will soon squander their sweat and health when they are approaching the limit of their manpower, until they collapse under the weight and turn into rails No one knows about the unwilling soul under the sleeper.

But pity is pity, Hai Dafu does not intend to change the situation of these people, he does not have this kind of power, nor does he have this kind of interest.In the establishment of an empire, many people will inevitably make sacrifices, whether they are nationals of the country or foreign nationals. He is not as good as the Holy Mother to damage the interests of the east coast for these worthless laborers.

"My lads put in a lot of hard work to get the railroad done. They worked day and night in the cold of the mountains in the winter. Not like those Italians who had to drink a lot to work and who were ill in the spring. During the attack, most of our lads survived.” Goshkin, the labor leader, was arranged in front of Hai Dafu to introduce their efforts in building the railway.

"They are as strong as bulls. If the master allows them, they can even fight on the battlefield. I think it is enough to deal with those Indians, just like Yermak led a group of Ross boys to destroy those prairie barbarians. ’ Goshkin went on boasting.

"They seem to be stronger only because the work they do is easier, Goshkin." Hai Dafu was not very interested in his chattering words, but after observing and visiting for so many days, he has generally confirmed that the army In order to go north to occupy the land, I also tried my best, and indeed almost all the potential was squeezed out—whether it is money or manpower—then this is no problem, and I can report to Minister Zhou when I go back. The second sum of funds will be in place soon, and the northern railway and military stations along the line will continue to be built at a very high speed.

And once the railway continues to extend forward, even extending to the Brazilian plateau, then this will be of great help to the people on the east coast.Because this means that they can easily start from the Brazilian plateau without wasting their physical strength among the mountains, which is very important for quickly achieving the purpose of the campaign.

……

Baode County in the depths of Dingjun Mountain.The former enemy commander-in-chief of the South Route Army, Zhu Liang, and his team got off their horses. Shao Yaoguang, the military management committee member who had been waiting for a long time, hurried up with the main officials of the county. Accompany Zhu Liang and his party to the tent.

This year, Lieutenant Colonel Zhu Liang has reached the age of his destiny. He is still strong and resolute. The various units that crossed the Hebei River upstream, this is the great trust of Chief of Staff Mo.

In front of you is a militia field training ground, and the immigrants who migrated last year (mostly Qing army captives) are undergoing strict military training under the command of military officers.These former green battalion officers and soldiers have basically subdued after they came to the East Bank for a year. Due to the war against Brazil, Shao Yaoguang canceled the task of opening up wasteland for these people at the request of his superiors, and instead selected 2000 people from them, day after day Carry out various military training in a timely manner in order to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, which can play a role when war breaks out.

After a year, these people have roughly mastered the essentials of firearm firing and coordination, and the marching ranks are so-so. They just don’t know what it will look like when they actually go to battle. The effect will probably be much worse than the current demonstration. , Shao Yaoguang had long been prepared for this.

"Fortunately, their team is not the main force!" Shao Yaoguang often thought happily.

In the semi-enclosed training ground, the roar of volleyball guns was heard. Zhu Liang raised his eyes to look there, and unconsciously twitched the corners of his mouth, thinking: "The dummies who are firing volleyball guns now will sooner or later be shot. Greetings to the Brazilians. The land on the East Coast is too "narrow" to accommodate more and more citizens, and the world is too "crowded" to accommodate a life of leisure and solitude. After all, we still need to continue to grab the sun The living space below. Any reason or any excuse is not as straightforward as fighting for the living space at this time. Human beings are always fighting and competing with each other. Someone wins and someone loses. Brazilians, consider yourself unlucky."

The tent was neatly tidied up. The tarpaulins on the ground had just been opened, exuding a lingering rubber smell.Zhu Liang sat on a grand master's chair, leaning on the saber with both hands, and asked after thinking: "Lieutenant Shao, you have also served as a military management committee member in Baode County for more than a year. How is the situation now?"

"Report to Commander Zhu!" Shao Yaoguang stood up with a haircut and put his legs together, and replied, "In the past year in Baode County, the staff department has set up 37 pioneering groups and reclaimed more than 8500 acres of wasteland. , of which 1659 mu had been planted with wheat in the spring of last year (11), and the rest had been planted with potatoes, soybeans, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, melons, fruits and vegetables to ensure that the harvest would not fail; in addition, 1800 pastures were opened, There are more than 2.5 cattle, more than 360 goats, and more than [-] horses in the county. Once the army is stationed, Baode County will have enough to supply the ministries.”

"Hehe, the army naturally has a military depot to supply water. There is no reason for you to bear it. At most, you can supply some fresh vegetables and meat." Zhu Liang put away the general knife when he heard the words, smiled, and said: "The construction of the military depot How's it going?"

"Returning to the commander-in-chief, four of the seven warehouses in the Baode County Military Station have been completed, and the remaining three are still rushing to work. It is expected to be completely completed in mid-May and start receiving materials for storage." Shao Yaoguang replied still standing there, " In addition, the warehousing work of the four warehouses that have been completed has also entered the final stage, and the directors of the various military management offices in this county are leading people to carefully check and check to ensure that there are no mistakes or shortages in the materials."

"Very well, continue to work hard without any delay. Now the whole country is entering the pre-autumn harvest preparations. You still have about two months. Once the two tasks of autumn harvest and winter sowing are over, then the Army The militia convened by the Ministry of Defense and Chief of General Staff Mo will come successively. Here in Baode County, two security regiments with a total of 4000 people will be stationed, plus 2000 people from your Baode County security regiment, a total of [-] troops. Cross the river to the north from Kaoshan Township, and quickly expand northward, attacking the Brazilian manors and fortresses deeply, and completely occupying them." Zhu Liang stood up, waved his right hand, and said: "This battle is a battle of national destiny, the rise and fall of the country , In this one action, no one can make any mistakes, otherwise the military law will be followed!"

Having said that, I have to mention that as the population on the east coast approaches the million mark, the national military training system that was originally established in the early days of the country is becoming more and more unsustainable.For no other reason, the cost of funds is too high to afford it!Among other things, training allowances, clothing costs, ammunition and equipment consumption, and medical logistics costs are like a mountain, overwhelming the Ministry of War and the Executive Committee.Later, when there was no other way, the counties could only adjust themselves according to the actual situation. In recent years, it was simply stipulated that each county should only have one security regiment (with 1000-2000 members) to organize the trained militia. Choose the best among them, and the rest are chosen to do what they like to do, so as to fully save military training expenses.

The security team mentioned by Zhu Liang just now is the product of this policy.The Security Corps is a militia organization and a de facto reserve force. Except for a few officers who are full-time professional soldiers, most of the soldiers, non-commissioned officers and even grassroots officers are farmers or citizens. They usually have jobs. Take time out to conduct training separately, and in winter, gather at the county militia training ground for intensive training—sometimes, the counties under the same regional administration will also organize several security groups to train and compete together, called "conference exercises", To enhance the actual combat effectiveness of each department.

Such a reserve force is naturally far inferior to the Army's mixed battalions in terms of combat effectiveness and obedience, but they have been training quite frequently against those Brazilian militiamen, but they still have full confidence in winning the battle.Even if they meet the legendary St. Paul's Banner Team, they can go up to compete with each other if they are equipped with artillery, cavalry and other technical arms. After all, what they lack is nothing but combat experience and the vigor on the battlefield. If you really talk about training and equipment, they are really much better than those in the St. Paul's flag team.

Moreover, there are now 41 counties on the east coast. Although the size of the security regiments in each county is different, and the training is good or bad, it is not difficult to select ten relatively good security regiments, and this is [-] soldiers.If the Brazilians heard this number, they would probably be scared to death.What's more, even those security regiments that are relatively "incapable of fighting" and "worryingly trained" in the opinion of the staff of the Ministry of War are not incapable of functioning at all.At least, they are still capable of serving as security forces in the occupied area or logistics and supply troops to deliver supplies to the front line—so, the security regiment is absolutely indispensable under the army system of the East Coast Republic today. At the same time, it is also a major mystery of the long-term indirect influence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Headquarters on the grassroots.

During this Northern Expedition to Brazil, the people on the east bank divided their troops into two groups and marched by land and water. Zhu Liang, as the commander-in-chief of the South Route Army, except for a regular Sixth Mixed Battalion, the rest were security regiments from various counties—especially The reserve militias in Tieling, Xiayihe, Meilin, Luoqia, Jingjiang, Daxing and other counties called "elite"—there are as many as ten regiments, which can be called a huge scale.In addition, the Ministry of the Army will mobilize an additional three to five security regiments to stand by in Zhenhai County to support various places at any time according to the situation. This scale is also the first time for the East Bank. The battle of the country is over.

As for the main force of the army, in addition to the first mixed battalion organized into the battle order of the South African Garrison Army and the fourth mixed battalion stationed in San Juan Port, the second, third, and fifth battalions, the third company of the independent field artillery, and a part of the cavalry battalion They were all incorporated into the battle sequence of the Northern Route Army. Together with some reserve militiamen, they will attack the enemy from another direction, in order to quickly annihilate the enemy army, so that the Southern Route Army can calmly occupy more land—to put it bluntly, Zhu Liang's South Route Army is more tasked with occupying land, and it is not their turn to wipe out the enemy.

When Shao Yaoguang and the others heard what Zhu Liang said, they were naturally submissive for a while, and they made up their minds to go to various places to check after a while to make sure there were no mistakes.At this time, the clanging of hammers and anvils was constantly coming from the blacksmith shop in Baode County, and the ear-piercing roar was also constantly coming from the machining workshop. One piece of knives, one horseshoe, one root The axles were sent to the depot warehouse for storage, and these would be turned into an aid for the East Coasters to wage war in a few months.

The breeze in the morning light brings a mix of green grass and gunpowder smoke. For people on the east coast, this is really the best golden age...

(End of this chapter)